What Are We Afraid Of?

I don’t agree with Marianne Williamson (though I appreciate her work!) who famously speaks in a poem how it often is our greatness, our "light", that most frighten us, and that we keep hidden from ourselves: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.” -Marianne Williamson, Return to Love

Not so!

We just haven’t learned how to let it all out; we hold the capacity and even inherent desire to be heroic and great (though it may show up in a more shadowy form of wanting to prove ourselves.) We are born to be creative in some unique way. We are frightened not by our light or our greatness but are held back by how we perceive ourselves or believe others perceive us. Also we may not know how to reveal these qualities. We simply need to claim all of ourselves and learn not to be concerned about how this all looks to others. 

I believe some of our light went into hiding through training. We were discouraged to show our most creative and truest selves for some reason or another. We were told to not brag, or not to “show off” when we were simply showing ourselves. We were simply declaring, “hey look I can do this!” and the adults around us shunned or even belittled us. Any childhood trauma affects our ability to feel and share our inner light. When our loveliness is not mirrored back to us we often forget we have it. 

When we don’t claim our assets (our heroism or creative expression), we tend to let others in positions of authority tell us who and what we are and what we want. This is such a great loss, a waste, really, for the individual and for the world. “As adults, we must achieve a complex integration that spans the contradictions between inner and outer reality, that supports both personal integrity and the common good. No, it is not easy work. But by doing it we offer what is sacred within us to the life of the world.”  (Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness)

So, get back to that creative project. Pump out that poem and send it out. Write that idea down in your journal. Speak up. Write that book! Share what you got. Let your Light shine. 

whatever you have to say, leave
the roots on, let them
dangle
And the dirt
  Just to make clear
  where they come from     –Charles Olson,  “These Days” 

THIS JUNE On FRIDAY's from 10:00 till 2:00 (except June 21st), find me at Sjolind's in Mount Horeb, writing. Come join other writers. Get some free consultation time with me. 

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